HONG KONG – The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) said yesterday that the provisional total arrivals in 2008 reached 29.5 million, representing an almost five percent increase compared with 2007.

    Arrivals from Mainland China reached 16.6 million, up nearly nine percent from 2007 while arrivals from short-haul Markets (not including Mainland China) reached 8.2 million, up more than two percent, year on year. Meanwhile, arrivals from long-haul markets dropped by almost four percent to 4.7 million.

    Mainland China maintained positive gain and continued to be Hong Kong’s leading source market in 2008, contributing around 55 percent of total arrivals. Almost all international markets were affected by the global economic slowdown and the Mainland’s visa policy adjustment since the second half of 2008, offsetting the increase in arrivals recorded in the first half of the year. This led to the narrowing of full year arrivals growth for short-haul markets while causing a single-digit drop for long-haul markets.

    The HKTB will be releasing the full breakdown on arrivals by markets for December 2008 and January-December 2008 later this month.